Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-02-06
burn shem-the only sepulture they re-


and despair that was felt throughout
Texas when the news of that atrocious
massacre spread over the country.
Poor Polly Grayson was one Of those
who suffered most kecnly from the sor-
rows of bereavement, for all that was
known of her husband, father, and
brother was that they had been among
the butchered ones, and no hope could
be cherished that any one of them had
escaped.
II did seem at first that we had been
utterly crushed, and were entirely at
Santa Annals mercy, the quality of
which we now well knew, and he was
so confident that he proclaimed his
purpose of
GENERAL MASSACRE
of MS ms fast as his army could get
hold of MS. But we were plucky peo-
plea character of which, think, We
have more than streak left yet-and
readily concluded that il we had to die
we might as well die fighting.
That determination was all right, but
all we could muster to do the fighting
was 1888 to meet Santa Annals 1888
"greasers, flushed with triumph and
ten times better armed than we were.
To get those 783 we had almost robbed
the cradle and the grave. L was not
quite fifteen years old, and | know
there were not few boys younger than
i. And there were women in our
anks-desperate, heart-broken wo-
men, who only wanted to kill Mex
leans in revenge for the massacre Of
their loved ones, and then to die.
Among those women were Polly Gray
son. She was a good-sized, muscular
woman, with gray eyes as keen as those
| of hawk, and few men could handle
rifle better than she. When she came
out to fight she cut her hair short, put
on a suit of her brothers clothes, and
would have appeared a good-looking
boy, not to be remarked where boys
were so plenty, but for the cold, set
light Of
FERoCITY IN HER EYES.
1t was at San JacintO, under brave
Sam. Houston's command, that we met
the Mexicans. If Santa Anna had
thought il worth while to concentrate
the other wings of his army upon us,
things might have turned out different
", but he fancied that he was strong
enough with his own column.
When we got the order to "charge"
a yell rose up all along our line of
REMEMBER THE ALAMO"
and We went at them like famished
tigers at sheep. We could not wait to
do much shooting, but rushed upon
them with our guns, dubbed and beat
in their skulls. There seemed to be
more satisfaction in killing them that
way, and doubt if one of us thought
of being hurt even while he was at the
| job. Polly Grayson was near me at
first when we got into the thick of the
fight, and she fought like a demon,
shrieking every time she mashed
greaser our battle-cry of " Remember
the Alamol"
4 panic seemed TO possess the MeXi-
cans, and surely Providence, Furnishing
their abominablc reachery and fiend
ISL cruelty, protected us in netting ont
His Judgment upon them. The fight
lasted only eighteen minutes but in
that incredibly short space Of time we
managed to kill go of our hated enc
mics, wounded badly Dos more, and
took 700 prisoners-Santa Anna him
self among them-while We had only
two killed and twenty-three wounded.
There is not another such achieve
ment in the history of the world. |
was only a boy then, as | said, and
could not understand why Santa Anna
was not hanged as soon rs hewas caught
for ordering the massacre OF the Alamo.
And what is more, although | am an
old man now, | still think that is what
should have been done with him.
Polly Grayson fought her way into
the very heart of the Mexican ranks,
as a mower cuts swath into q meadow
Of standing grass, and there were so
many Of them around her that they
turned on her like cornered rats, and
began striking at her with guns and
swords from all sides, until, in the thick
of the mciee, she got
A CLIP on THE HEAD
| that knocked her down senseless. Be-
fore they could finish her, however, the
tide of our boys swept over them and
rescued her. When she came to her
senses the fight was over and she was
in her husbands arms. He had joined
us the night before, and had no idea
that he would find her there until he
recognized her on the field, just as she
was knocked down. At first when her
ewes opened on his face, she seemed
Eighty, and fancied that both he and
she were dead; but directly, when the
dizziness caused by the blow had left
her and she realized that she WAS alive,
she wanted to pitch in again and kill
some more greasers. never III all my
born days saw woman so full Of fight
as Polly Grayson was that day.
BY and by they got her quoted down
a bit, and then her tender woman's
heart serged up, and she
PELL TO CRYING, sOBBIyG
for joy that Fred had turned up alive,
and for grief that Mel hadn't, when, all |
of a sudden, who should turn up, with !
cry of "Why, its our Polly" but
Mel himself.
Tie hair-breadth escapes of those two |
men were nothing short of just miracu-
lous. Fred had been shot down in the |
Alamo massacre, Int the bullet that |
struck him had glanced on his skull |
and travelled half way round his head
before it went out.
When he came to himself he lay still |
among the corpses until dark, and then
crawled of, making his way to the hut
of friendly Indian, who nursed him
until his head was all right, and also |
bad wound in his right leg that he had
not noticed at first AS soon as he was
able to travel lie made haste to get into
the San Jacinto fight, with the result
have told. As for Mel, he had run
away at the time Colonel Wards |
band were captured by the Mexi- |
cans, and, boy like, had stayed out /
nearly month, haunting the river
timber close by where the Mexicans
were, and popping off greasers when
ever he could get the chance, just as
sort Of private pleasure party of his |
own. Again and again they came near
L L. - l.. f,,l l,,ol-